Will Smith

Will Smith

28-Year-Old CatcherC
Los Angeles Dodgers
2023 Fantasy Outlook
Perhaps no player in baseball is in a more favorable position than Smith. He was the primary cleanup hitter for a 111-win Dodgers team last season, batting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Smith held up his end of the bargain with 24 homers and 87 RBI across 578 total plate appearances. He shaved nearly four points off his strikeout rate from his first full season in the majors and the bat is arguably worthy of more DH starts in the years to come (24 starts as the designated hitter in 2022). The rigors of catching make it tough for any backstop to stay healthy over the entire season, year-in and year-out, but Smith has now cleared 500 plate appearances in back-to-back campaigns. The batted-ball metrics, while not elite, largely support his outstanding results. Read Past Outlooks
RANKSFrom Preseason
#52
ADP
$Signed a one-year, $5.25 million contract with the Dodgers in January of 2023.
Getting breather Tuesday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 30, 2023
Smith is out of the lineup Tuesday against the Nationals.
ANALYSIS
This looks to be a routine night off for Smith, who played the full game at catcher Monday in the Dodgers' 6-1 defeat of Washington. Austin Barnes will handle catching duties and hit ninth Tuesday versus the Nats.
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Batting Stats
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2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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2021 MLB Game Log
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2020 MLB Game Log
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2019 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
25
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
9
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2021
 
 
+3%
OPS vs RHP
2023
 
 
+6%
OPS vs RHP
2022
 
 
+17%
OPS vs LHP
2021
 
 
+25%
OPS vs RHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2021vs Left .827 312 45 14 31 3 .264 .359 .468
Since 2021vs Right .850 930 121 42 160 2 .265 .361 .489
2023vs Left .889 36 5 2 4 1 .250 .389 .500
2023vs Right .942 127 22 5 24 0 .320 .417 .524
2022vs Left .908 138 22 6 16 0 .300 .391 .517
2022vs Right .776 440 46 18 71 1 .247 .327 .448
2021vs Left .732 138 18 6 11 2 .231 .319 .413
2021vs Right .912 363 53 19 65 1 .270 .383 .529
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Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2021
Even Split
2023
 
 
+10%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+12%
OPS on Road
2021
 
 
+11%
OPS at Home
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2021Home .845 581 80 28 91 2 .256 .358 .487
Since 2021Away .843 661 86 28 100 3 .273 .363 .480
2023Home .972 74 16 5 16 0 .313 .378 .594
2023Away .886 89 11 2 12 1 .299 .438 .448
2022Home .760 277 31 10 43 1 .243 .332 .428
2022Away .850 301 37 14 44 0 .275 .352 .498
2021Home .909 230 33 13 32 1 .253 .383 .527
2021Away .820 271 38 12 44 2 .263 .351 .469
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Stat Review
How does Will Smith compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
1.79
 
BB Rate
15.3%
 
K Rate
8.6%
 
BABIP
.287
 
ISO
.214
 
AVG
.305
 
OBP
.411
 
SLG
.519
 
OPS
.930
 
wOBA
.401
 
Exit Velocity
90.1 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
35.3%
 
Barrels/PA
5.5%
 
Expected BA
.294
 
Expected SLG
.486
 
Sprint Speed
23.4 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
41.8%
 
Line Drive %
17.2%
 
Fly Ball %
41.0%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Will Smith See More
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Yesterday
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5 days ago
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6 days ago
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9 days ago
Erik Siegrist sifts through the available talent in the American League and thinks Bo Naylor offers a solution for the Guardians' catching woes.
Yahoo DFS Baseball: Friday Plays and Strategy
11 days ago
Mike Barner recommends looking at an Astros stack on Friday against Oakland.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2022
2021
2020
Smith made a statement upon arrival to the majors and has quickly established himself among the top handful of catchers in the league. He's done it by hitting about 25 homers over a full season with an acceptable batting average (career .262). He's had two short seasons and one full one so far and the results have been consistent. While his flyball approach will limit his batting average (career 29.6 GB%), he keeps getting on base with an 11.5 BB%. He has major upside if/when the league implements the designated hitter in the National League. Instead of having to rest on his off days from catching, he can fill in as the DH. Smith has the talent to be the league's top catcher and the big difference between him and the catchers being taken after him is that he can make a huge difference by season's end.
Smith began the season in a timeshare with Austin Barnes. On Aug. 14, he was placed on the IL with a sore neck, slashing just .188/.341/.406 at the time. There were signs Smith would snap out of it as he was only fanning at a 12.2% clip while walking at a 19.5% pace to that point. Smith was back in action after the minimum stay and things began to click. The backstop slashed .329/.427/.646 after returning, playing nearly every day by season's end. He led all catchers over 100 PA with a 163 wRC+, supported by a Statcast ranking in the pertinent categories of at least 80th percentile, most 88th or higher. Smith will be challenged to match that over a full season, and needs to work on his framing, but he's still one of best hitting catchers in the league, slotting in the meat of the Dodgers' lineup. Despite subpar defense, a case can be made for Smith being the second-best catcher in fantasy.
Austin Riley is the first to come to mind when thinking of players who started hot upon arrival before fading, but Smith followed a similar path. After getting the call to be the Dodgers' primary backstop in late July, Smith went off for nine homers in 19 games, driving in 25 runs in 62 at-bats. He then hit .183/.277/.305 over his final 26 regular-season games and ended his year by going 1-for-13 in the NLCS. Smith's strong strikeout rate from Triple-A did not carry over, as he fanned at a 26.5% clip with the major-league team, though it's important to note that Smith has a history of making adjustments and cutting down on his K-rate in his second go at a level. A first-round pick in 2016, Smith has always been able to take a walk and he's a plus behind the plate. There's upside here but downside too, as the Dodgers may not be patient if Smith starts in a similar fashion to how he finished 2019.
More Fantasy News
Resting Sunday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 28, 2023
Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Rays.
ANALYSIS
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Knocks in three runs Tuesday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 24, 2023
Smith went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI in Tuesday's 8-1 victory versus Atlanta.
ANALYSIS
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In lineup Tuesday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 23, 2023
Smith is in the Dodgers' lineup Tuesday versus Atlanta, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
ANALYSIS
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Resting Saturday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 20, 2023
Smith will be on the bench for Saturday's game against the Cardinals, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.
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Gets breather Tuesday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 16, 2023
Smith is not in the starting lineup Tuesday against the Twins.
ANALYSIS
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